EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Everett Spruill Foundation for the Arts is established to preserve and perpetuate the legacy of experimentation, research and development of the art of African American and artist of African heritage. The Foundation supports artists’ fellowships, educational programs, special projects, exhibitions, and publications that, deepen the appreciation of and , provide access to art by African Americans. In addition, the Foundation acknowledges the professional encouragement Spruill generously provides other artists, as well as his intellectual interests, by supporting the creative development of up-and-coming artists of color through the foundations Black Artists Group (BAG). First and Foremost, the Spruill Foundations ultimate goal is the establishment of a Museum of Art within 10 years. To accomplish this goal the Foundation is planning an ongoing series of fundraising exhibitions and events in Orlando Florida.


THE EVERETT SPRUILL FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INCORPORATED

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"Celebrating the Legacy: Conversations on the Art and Life of “Arthur Rayford" and "The World of Arthur Rayford” .
The Foundation also supports educational programming for children, as evidenced by its current P.L.A.Y. (Parramore League of Artistic Youth) Program which is a collaboration with the City of Orlando’s “PARRAMORE KIDS ZONE” AND ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, to offer art business training, field trips, hands-on workshops, community projects and learning materials that provided transformative learning and artistic experiences. The Foundation has plans for a major exhibitions on The Art of Arthur Rayford, the first comprehensive retrospective of the late artist work. In conjunction with the retrospective , the Spruill Foundation is planning an historic month long Orlando City-Wide Celebration to honor Rayfords’s contributions, with over five participating cultural institutions offering engaging art, music, dance and family programs. The Celebration will allow the Foundation to expand public knowledge of the diverse facets of Rayford—a multitalented, highly prolific, intellectually engaged artist, who was a philanthropist, writer and institution builder. Over the next several years the Foundation will focus on two main program areas: legacy-based and grant giving. The legacy-based programs are directed toward preserving and making publicly accessible Rayford’s and Spruill’s artwork, personal library and archives, as well as completing a catalogue exhibiting art and archival materials. The grant-giving programs will focus on local initiatives in which funds are established to nurture the professional development of young and emerging artists, as well as the creativity of young children through school-based arts education programs.

SPRUILL FOUNDATION PROGRAMS

To realize its mission and program goals, the Foundation will work to increase support and resources from public and private sources. Over several years, the Foundation will incrementally launch and undertake new and/or expanded projects and programs that are tied to its core mission of preserving and perpetuating African American Art and Artists.

This rich resource will add tremendously to the scholarship on African American art and illuminate Spruill’s creativity and private art collection. The collection contain correspondence, sketchbooks, awards and photographs. Spruill’s personal art collection of paintings, prints, and collectables reflects the broad range of his artistic and aesthetic interests. The archival materials will be processed and cataloged, with an appropriate environment created for their storage, use and display.

National and international exhibitions of Rayford and Spruill’s artwork in museums and galleries. Small-scale presentations of Spruill’s private collection, as well as artwork by artists influenced by Spruill, currently online but ultimately exhibited in the Spruill Foundation’s gallery/museum.

THE RAYFORD GALLERY

The establishment of key components of the Rayford Gallery as a program of the Foundation. The Spruill Foundation will establish the Rayford Gallery in 2009 with relatives of the late Arthur Rayford. With the opening of the Gallery, the Foundation assumes its administration as part of Spruill’s legacy as an institution builder and supporter of artists.
Fellowship and Youth Programs The Foundation has developed its grant-giving program to benefit and support two groups: children and young (emerging) African American artists. The focus of the program reflects Spruill’s interest in scholarship both as an artist and entrepreneur, and his lifelong advocacy and support of young and underrepresented artists of color and the cultural and educational organizations that support them. Structured, competitive annual programs will award fellowships and stipends that nurture artistic talent as well as support creative and educational aspirations.

The Spruill Foundation Artist Fellowship Program is designed to recognize practicing, professional, and creative artists of color residing in Florida through monetary grant awards. The program provides support for young artists of exceptional talent and demonstrated ability to improve their artistic skills and enhance their careers. For purposes of eligibility to apply to the program, a "professional creative artist" is defined as a person who creates, on an ongoing basis, original works of art within an artistic discipline, and is pursuing it as a means of livelihood or for the highest level of professional recognition.Individual Fellowship awards are limited to $500 (based on the availability of funds) and will be made to emerging artists of color who have achieved a high level of professional recognition in the visual arts. The number of awards will vary according to the number of applications reviewed, the recommendation of each panel, and the funds available. The Foundation will also attempt to provide extra performance, exhibition, or publication opportunities for all grant recipients.


Who May Apply Artists may apply for Fellowship Award if they meet the following eligibility requirements:
You must have been a full-time Florida resident for the past two (2) years at the time of your application and remain one for the duration of the grant period.
You must be 18 years of age or older.
You must be an artist who is currently producing work.
Artists are NOT eligible to apply if they are:
A student enrolled full-time in any degree-seeking program at any educational level.
A current board member, committee member, staff member, or consultant for the Spruill Foundation, current panelist, or member of their immediate families.
Individuals whose work is primarily of a research, scholarly, or commercial nature.

The Foundation defines the artist career stages as follows:


Emerging Artists are those in the early stages of their professional careers. Their work has begun to take shape and their output contains the seeds of further artistic development.

Mid-career Artists are those who have created an independent body of work and have made a recognized contribution to their discipline through public presentation of their work. They have been steady in their progression as an artist over a five (5) to ten (10) year period. They are challenging themselves to explore other avenues of expression as well as deepening the creative modalities that have brought them to this artistic stage.

Selection criteria for awards include:

The quality of artistic work within the context of the individual's experience, training, and career stage.
The artist's creative accomplishments and the promise of future artistic excellence.
The impact an award at this time will likely have on the applicant's future artistic and career growth.

Selection Process

Awards are granted on a competitive basis and selection will be made through a two-step process:
Preliminary discipline-specific panels will review applications and select a pool of finalists.
An interdisciplinary panel will review the finalists' applications and make the final selection decisions.
Decisions are final and are not subject to appeal. All applicants will be notified of the panel's decisions after the selections have been made.


Fellowship Award Terms

Spruill Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship Award recipients will sign a grant agreement before receipt of award funds. No supervision is required as recipients may use the award for whatever purpose they choose. At the end of the one year award period, awardees will submit a short narrative describing what he/she has accomplished and its importance to his/her ongoing artistic and career development. Such accomplishments do not have to be solely in the form of artistic products, but may also include knowledge acquired, experience gained, personal growth achieved, and/or experiments undertaken that point the artist in new directions, whether successful or not. The Spruill Foundation will also hold occasional informal artists' review gatherings during the award period where award recipients, both present and past, will meet with each other and invited guests to exchange ideas and practical information, to discuss artistic issues and the progress of current creative activities, as well as other subjects of interest.

YOUTH PROGRAMS

Designed for children, the program will provide long- term art programs to a select group of students starting in middle school and continuing through high school. Program components include: 1) stipends for work on community projects or to further the education of talented, financially needy art students; and 2) Internships through collaborations with private companies to enhance life skills and deepen appreciation and exposure to art. The development and distribution of a comprehensive and content-rich curriculum based on key themes from Rayfords’ and Spruills’ art and life. Curriculum packets with videos of collage and painting demonstration guides for teachers. The project, piloted in Orlando, Florida, will include a school-based teacher component and site visits to the Foundation’s Art Museum /Gallery.

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FUTURE PROJECTS & PROGRAMS

In the future 2009 - 2012, the Foundation will fulfilled its mandate primarily through modest grants to talented artists of color , art programs that nurture the creativity of children, aid deserving emerging artists, and scholarly research and preservation of Rayfords’ and Spruill’s work. Over the next several years, the Foundation will actively participate in and developed special programs and projects that advanced new scholarship on African American Art and Artists, expand public knowledge of the Spruill Foundations involvement with other disciplines, as well as enhance its own public visibility.